Damson bread and butter pudding

I had no idea what a damson was until September this year. This ancient and sour plum does not grow in Australia, so I was thrilled when friend’s Randolph and Lalu showed me their damson tree a few weeks ago. That was a big foraging weekend, so the damsons went straight into the freezer, until I figured out what to do with them. 

According to my recently purchased copy of Forgotten Fruits, by Christopher Stocks, damsons likely originated close to the the Syrian city of Damascus. Damsons are too sour to eat raw and therefore often used in cooking and jam making. Historically the juice was also used by the textile industry.

A quick internet search indicates damsons can be used to make damson gin, vodka and beer, and to make jam. But it was a recipe for damson bread and butter pudding that caught my eye. Bread and butter pudding is one of Kristoph’s favourite desserts, so this damson version was potentially a household hit.  

I modified the recipe slightly, here’s my version.

Recipe

100g butter

8 thin slices white loaf, crusts removed

150g fresh or frozen damsons (I used frozen and thawed them over night)

3 eggs

3 egg yolks

1 vanilla pod

200g caster sugar

400ml single cream

Step 1: Grease and sugar a six-inch by four-inch ovenproof dish.

Step 2: Butter each slice of bread. Cut each in half to make triangles.

Step 3: Remove the damson stones.

Step 4: Layer with the bread, a good sprinkling of sugar, damsons, bread, sugar damsons, etc, until the bread, the damsons, and half of the sugar, are used up. Sprinkle the top with sugar.

Step 5: Beat the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and remaining caster sugar in a bowl. Heat the cream to just before boiling. Pour it over the eggy mixture and stir gently.

Step 6: Pour the eggy mixture over the pudding, and leave to stand for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

 
Step 7: Place the pudding dish in a baking dish filled with water. Cook for 40 minutes until the custard sets.

Serve this warm with cream, or Greek yoghurt. According to Kristoph the damsons are tastier than the usual sultanas in bread and butter pudding. Enjoy!

Do you have any great damson recipes? If so, please leave them in the comments box. I’d love to try them.

A Sunday forage and competitive bake off

Chris (my husband) and I spent the weekend with friends, and their four kids, at their place in the country. It was a perfect weekend, collecting fallen fruits from the damson, Victoria plum, and apple trees in the backyard.


We then headed out on country amble and an afternoon forage. We collected blackberries, sloes, elderberries and hawthorn berries from the hedgerows. Being before the first frost, it’s strictly a little early to pick sloes. However given my enthusiasm for making sloe gin, and the potential to use a freezer to act as the all important frost, we picked them anyway.

 
Dragging our haul of foraged goods back to Randolph and Lalu’s house, we quickly agreed to a “crumble off,” with Randolph and I as the two competitors and everyone else as judges. Randolph pleased the crowds with his mother’s crumble recipe, complete with rich and buttery crumble, and blackberries and apples infused with cinnamon. I managed to surprise the judges with my flippant inclusion of elderberries, together with the blackberries, apples, and plums.

The judges awarded first prize to Randolph, which was fair, because the crumble was superior, but sad for me, as it was my first experience of competitive baking!